V

The next morning Lepage was placed upon a sled, and they started back,
Bouche barking joyfully as he led off, with Cloud-in-the-Sky beside him.
There was light in the faces of all, though the light could not be seen
by reason of their being muffled so. All day they travelled, scarcely
halting, Lepage's Indian marching well. Often the corpse-like bundle on
the sled was disturbed, and biscuits wet in brandy and bits of preserved
venison were given.

That night Hume said to Late Carscallen: "I am going to start at the
first light of the morning to get to Gaspe Toujours and Jeff Hyde as soon
as possible. Follow as fast as you can. He will be safe, if you give him
food and drink often. I shall get to the place where we left them about
noon; you should reach there at night or early the next morning."

"Hadn't you better take Bouche with you?" said Late Carscallen.

The sub-factor thought a moment, and then said: "No, he is needed most
where he is."

At noon the next day Jaspar Hume looked round upon a billowy plain of sun
and ice, but saw no staff, no signal, no tent, no sign of human life: of
Gaspe Toujours or of Jeff Hyde. His strong heart quailed. Had he lost his
way? He looked at the sun. He was not sure. He consulted his compass, but
it quivered hesitatingly. For awhile that wild bewilderment which seizes
upon the minds of the strongest, when lost, mastered him, in spite of his
struggles against it. He moved in a maze of half-blindness,
half-delirium. He was lost in it, swayed by it. He began to wander about;